FIVE PASSENGERS, 1857.

Eliza Jane was a tall, dark, young woman, about twenty-three
years of age, and had been held to service by a widow
woman, named Sally Spiser, who was “anything
but a good woman.” The place of her habitation
was in Delaware, between Concord and Georgetown.

Eliza Jane’s excuse for leaving was this:
She charged her mistress with trying to work her to
death, and with unkind treatment generally. When
times became so hard that she could not stand her old
mistress “Sally” any longer, she “took
out.”

Harriet did not come in company with Eliza Jane, but
by accident they met at the station in Philadelphia.
Harriet and daughter came from Washington, D.C.

Harriet had treasured up a heavy account against a
white man known by the name of William A. Linton,
whom she described as a large, red-faced man, who
had in former years largely invested in slave property,
but latterly he had been in the habit of selling off,
until only seven remained, and among them she and
her child were numbered; therefore, she regarded him
as one who had robbed her of her rights, and daily
threatened her with sale.

Harriet was a very likely-looking woman, twenty-nine
years of age, medium size, and of a brown color, and
far from being a stupid person. Her daughter
also was a smart, and interesting little girl of eight
years of age, and seemed much pleased to be getting
out of the reach of slave-holders. The mother
and daughter, however, had not won their freedom thus
far, without great suffering, from the long and fatiguing
distance which they were obliged to walk. Sometimes
the hardness of the road made them feel as though
they would be compelled to give up the journey, whether
or not; but they added to their faith, patience, and
thus finally succeeded.

Heavy rewards were offered through advertisements
in the Baltimore Sun, but they availed naught.
The Vigilance Committee received them safely, fully
cared for them, and safely sent them through to the
land of refuge. Harriet’s daring undertaking
obliged her to leave her husband, John Stewart, behind;
also one sister, a slave in Georgetown. One brother
had been sold South. Her mother she had laid away
in a slave’s grave: but her father she
hoped to find in Canada, he having escaped thither
when she was a small girl; at least it was supposed
that he had gone there.